SZCVN v MIMIA

The applicants, SZCVN and others, sought judicial review of decisions made by the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (MIMIA) to refuse their applications for protection visas. The applicants were citizens of Afghanistan and had arrived in Australia by boat. The core of the dispute concerned the lawfulness of the Minister's decisions, which were made under s 48B of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) and related provisions. The matter was heard in the High Court of Australia.

The High Court was required to determine whether the Minister's delegate had erred in law by failing to consider relevant considerations and by taking into account irrelevant considerations when assessing the applicants' claims for protection. Specifically, the court had to consider whether the delegate had properly applied the principles of administrative law, including the duty to afford procedural fairness and the requirement to exercise discretions conferred by the *Migration Act* according to law. A key issue was whether the delegate's assessment of the applicants' claims for protection, particularly in relation to the risk of persecution, was vitiated by legal error.

Gummow and Heydon JJ found that the delegate had made a jurisdictional error. Their Honours reasoned that the delegate had failed to consider a crucial piece of evidence regarding the applicants' fear of persecution, which was a relevant consideration that ought to have been taken into account. Furthermore, the delegate had taken into account irrelevant considerations by focusing on the applicants' mode of arrival in Australia rather than the merits of their protection claims. The court applied established principles of administrative law, emphasising that a failure to consider relevant material or the consideration of irrelevant material can constitute a jurisdictional error, rendering the decision unlawful.

The High Court made orders quashing the decisions of the Minister's delegate and remitting the applications for protection visas to the Minister for reconsideration according to law.